At the end of 2005, the Government introduced amendments to the anachronistic sedition laws amidst outrage from journalists, civil libertarians, and academics. They promised a formal review of the sedition laws.

In early March this year, the Australian Law Reform Commission was asked to examine the new sedition offences, including:

whether the amendments, including the sedition offence and defences in sections 80.2 and 80.3 of the Criminal Code, effectively address the problem of urging the use of force or violence;

whether ‘sedition’ is the appropriate term to identify this conduct;

whether Part IIA of the Crimes Act, as amended, is effective to address the problem of organisations that advocate or encourage the use of force or violence to achieve political objectives; and